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In Kwaito Bodies Xavier Livermon examines the cultural politics of
the youthful black body in South Africa through the performance,
representation, and consumption of kwaito, a style of electronic
dance music that emerged following the end of apartheid. Drawing on
fieldwork in Johannesburg's nightclubs and analyses of musical
performances and recordings, Livermon applies a black queer and
black feminist studies framework to kwaito. He shows how kwaito
culture operates as an alternative politics that challenges the
dominant constructions of gender and sexuality. Artists such as
Lebo Mathosa and Mandoza rescripted notions of acceptable
femininity and masculinity, while groups like Boom Shaka enunciated
an Afrodiasporic politics. In these ways, kwaito culture
recontextualizes practices and notions of freedom within the social
constraints that the legacies of colonialism, apartheid, and
economic inequality place on young South Africans. At the same
time, kwaito speaks to the ways in which these legacies reverberate
between cosmopolitan Johannesburg and the diaspora. In
foregrounding this dynamic, Livermon demonstrates that kwaito
culture operates as a site for understanding the triumphs,
challenges, and politics of post-apartheid South Africa.
In Kwaito Bodies Xavier Livermon examines the cultural politics of
the youthful black body in South Africa through the performance,
representation, and consumption of kwaito, a style of electronic
dance music that emerged following the end of apartheid. Drawing on
fieldwork in Johannesburg's nightclubs and analyses of musical
performances and recordings, Livermon applies a black queer and
black feminist studies framework to kwaito. He shows how kwaito
culture operates as an alternative politics that challenges the
dominant constructions of gender and sexuality. Artists such as
Lebo Mathosa and Mandoza rescripted notions of acceptable
femininity and masculinity, while groups like Boom Shaka enunciated
an Afrodiasporic politics. In these ways, kwaito culture
recontextualizes practices and notions of freedom within the social
constraints that the legacies of colonialism, apartheid, and
economic inequality place on young South Africans. At the same
time, kwaito speaks to the ways in which these legacies reverberate
between cosmopolitan Johannesburg and the diaspora. In
foregrounding this dynamic, Livermon demonstrates that kwaito
culture operates as a site for understanding the triumphs,
challenges, and politics of post-apartheid South Africa.
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